005 Hitchhiking

Today was the first time that I hitchhiked on my own. Before, I was always accompanied by beautiful women. I was curious to find out if being alone would mean I’d have to wait for hours before someone took me along.
I am glad to report that it actually went rather well.

Time between sticking up my thumb for the first time today, and a car stopping to take me along: 5 seconds (seriously). If I’d believe in signs, this would’ve been a good one :)

The first one to take me was a young lady who was really happy to talk to me because she was very nervous for the job interview she was on her way to. I wished her good luck, got out of the car at a petrol station and was picked up quite quickly by a guy and his son in a really big pick-up. This was a fun drive, especially because the son watched a DVD on the nav screen, and the dad was trying to keep his attention to the road.
The next petrol station turned out not to be such a good spot, because all the cars were going south, and I tried to go north-east. I was offered 3 rides in 45 minutes, all going the wrong way. One girl actually offered to take me all the way to Switzerland in her little old car. It was tempting, but I had to decline. 

Just when I decided to take the next car, no matter where it would go, an older man stopped and took me in the right direction.  As I always do, I asked him what he does for a living, and this time I got quite an interesting answer. He runs a business that sets up tattoo and erotic shows all over Europe. Beside standard stuff like light and sound, he can also provide really big beds that slowly spin around automatically :)
 

The last ride was a man who told me that I could come with him, but he would first go in the wrong direction, and then come back. Since I had enough time, and I was curious about the reason for driving in circles, I went with him. He turned out to be a sales representative for specialty glues (Bizon Kit) who was visiting DoItYourself stores in the region. We went to a Gamma and a Karwei, and along the way he explained the marketing strategy and told me about their new products. I didn’t expect to learn about that when I set of this morning. 

His last store was in the town where my parents live, so now I am home.